UK Film Council assigns more than £5 million to upcoming projects

‘The Proposition’, directed by John Hillcoat from a screenplay by music icon Nick Cave and shooting in Australia this month, is benefiting from £1.8 million of Lottery cash from the UK Film Council.
A powerfully gripping story that has a truly epic sweep, The Proposition has attracted a stellar international cast including Guy Pearce (LA Confidential, Memento); Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast, King Arthur, Ripley’s Game); Danny Huston (Birth, 21 Grams); BAFTA winner John Hurt (Love and Death on Long Island, Hellboy); David Wenham (The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, Van Helsing) and Emily Watson (Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Punch Drunk Love, Breaking the Waves).
£2 million of Lottery money is also being invested in the new big screen adaptation of world renowned novelist John Le Carré’s international bestseller ‘The Constant Gardener’ with British stars Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List, The English Patient) and Rachel Weisz (Runaway Jury, The Mummy).
The Constant Gardener is directed by Fernando Meirelles, his first feature since his Oscar nomination for directing the Brazilian masterpiece City of God. The film is being produced by Simon Channing Williams, a British producer whose most recent film, Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake (also funded by the Premiere Fund) won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, one of the world’s most prestigious film awards.
The international supporting cast also includes Danny Huston, Bill Nighy (Love Actually), Pernilla August (Star Wars Episode I and II), Archie Panjabi (Bend It Like Beckham), and Donald Sumpter (Enigma).
‘Five Children and It’, released at cinemas on October 22, was given additional funding to help deliver a magical tale with extraordinary visual and special effects. In addition to the original £2.1 million investment in the film, the Premiere Fund has provided a further £571,500 to enhance the film’s extraordinary special visual effects.
‘The Full Monty’ director Peter Cattaneo’s ‘Pobby and Dingan’, currently shooting in Australia, has also received £900,000 of backing from the Premiere Fund.
The UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund is funding a pilot of Finola Dwyer’s ‘Man Alive’ with £10,000 of Lottery cash. Pilots enable the UK Film Council to further assess a project’s big screen potential before more money is committed.
(GB)